`The Red Sox are not strangers to the Bay Area -- they play in Oakland at least one series a year. So what's the difference about playing the Giants? It's the difference between San Francisco and Oakland.

"It's tremendous,'' said Nolan. "I know a lot of San Franciscans who love baseball and have never been to Oakland.''

Last fall, in fact, the Red Sox played the A's in Oakland in the division playoffs, important games. People walked right up to the box office on game night and bought tickets. And there were still empty seats.' ------------------------------------------------ end of story

In fact, the A's drew over 50,000 (a sellout) in Game 1 of last year's ALDS vs. Boston. In Game 2, they drew over 36,000 and over 49,000 (a sellout) for Game 5. Thus, they SOLD OUT 2 of the 3 games. And their 3-game total was over 135,000, averaging 45,000 per game. The sellout number is 43,000 and change at the Coliseum. Thus, the A's averaged over a sellout per game for the series. The support from OAKLAND FANS was there, unlike what the Chronicle is reporting.

The A's averaged more fans per game than the Giants at Pac Bell in the 2003 playoffs. Sure, that's because Pac Bell's capacity is smaller, but the point is that Oakland fans more than acquitted themselves during that series. But by reading today's article, it makes it sound like the Coliseum was half full, which is completely false.

Not to mention the snobbery that's all throughout the article. Sox and Giants fans have two things in common: They're complete mouthy snobs, and they haven't won jack. Ever.

The Chronicle is a San Francisco newspaper. As much as they pretend to give a fair shake to the East Bay's sports, I don't know why they should care.

We'd all love it if all the local papers covered our pro sports teams evenly. But I think that's unrealistic on our part, and it would be irresponsible on the journalist's part. They work for a San Francisco newspaper, which should tout itself as a better town.

Just as I'd expect teh Oakland Tribune to poke fun at the Gnats on a regular basis. At least when it comes to sports.

I don't know ss. People in Oakland don't usually tout themselves as having a "better town," and certainly the Tribune doesn't poke fun of or snub the Giants very often.

The problem is as usual SF's inferiority complex. They take a back seat to NY on the country's center stage and a back seat to LA as the entertainment capital, so they feel the need to snub Oakland and SJ whenever they can (and LA) to make themselves feel better.

Have the BoSox play the Giants at Candlestick and I'll guarantee that they'll be more BoSox fans there and they'll be much louder.

All you hear the past few days about the BoSox-Giant series is that this has two of the most historical teams in the game's history. True, but then they dismiss the A's-Cubs series, not because of the Cubs but because the A's really don't have a real historic history.

I don't know what the hell they're talking about, the A's are tied for second in the history of baseball for winning world titles with 9.

The BoSox and Giants although facinate the national media, but they too haven't won world titles in decades. So I don't know how a team that has the second most success the past 25 years, winning 4 world titles can take a back seat to teams that have won anything in 50 years with the Giants and the BoSox in 85 years.

I totaly agree with you. You hardly evr heard about the Giants when they played at 3 Com Park. Ever since they moved into that new swimming pool(SBC Park) they've been getting some attention. And the Giants at 3 com where worse then what the A's are now as far as attendance. When te iants played at 3 Com, there was a ton of empty seats, wich looked horrible because not oly were they empty, but they were ORANGE.at least at the Coliseum when the crowd is small you can deal with the green seats. So don't follow all the Giants hype because when Bonds leave, you on't hardly ever hear about them again.

There were sure a lot of BoSox fans there at SBC tonight and very vocal. You could hear them on tv and the silence of Kruk and Kuipe was a priceless. I just wish there was a camera on their faces when the BoSox had that 7 run inning and all you could hear was, "Let's go Red Sox". Classic.

Where are all those Giant fans now who have always said that they sell out their games and they don't let other team's fans come in. There must've been thousands of Red Sox fans there tonight and it's not like it is at the net where there is a 55k capcity and you can get a ticket anytime you want. This is SBC, the supposed hardest ticket to get in all of baseball. Well, I guess some of those die hard Giant fans sold their tickets to more passionate Red Sox fans who were willing to pay a price for them. You'd think at the season's beginning that most Giant fans would buy these tickets up knowing how Red Sox nation invades every park in baseball and they see it maybe 3-6 times a year when they come to Oakland.

Now, let's not let FACTS interfere with the real issue: anything San Francisco is BETTER than Oakland. It has been that way even before Herb Caen came along, and will likely be that way in the future.

Chris_d makes a good point in commenting that Boston folks seem to share the effete snobbery that afflicts many SF people. Screw 'em. Let's just continue enjoying truly great A's baseball at our Coliseum.